AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (2022)
Revenge is a dish best served cold, I think somebody once said. Of course I'm not sure releasing a sequel like this over a decade after the iron was hot is what they had in mind. Yes somehow Avatar is back, with all of its tribes versus machines aesthetics and all its movie making technology. Though I'm happy to say the waking nightmare of high frame rates and 3D glasses can be avoided this time around. Fortunately it's lost the appeal it once had and movies can be enjoyed properly again. But is this more than just a simple revenge story and an exercise in pushing the film making envelope? In some ways it's a lot more convoluted, and a lot more self indulgent, while being rather thin at the same time. What is the Way of Water? It's about three hours or so.
Of course now the sequel is finally here Avatar is back in more ways than one. In terms of the story elements this is in fact the same movie all over again. There are a few twists and turns and some new character perspectives to explore, but it's all incredibly familiar. Which I guess wins it some points for consistency at least. People find themselves in new alien bodies, military units fight to capture planetary resources, and veteran actors are still carrying the whole thing on their shoulders. The visuals have been refined with new special effects fidelity, but it's mostly the same as it was. Music by Simon Franglen does a good job at emulating the late great James Horner. And director James Cameron's old aquatic obsessions are front and centre, more than ever.
A sequel going over the same ground but bigger and louder is obviously a blockbuster trademark. But the story itself is filled with other elements, some that work more than others. Na'vi teenager Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) is probably a reincarnation of some kind. Feral human Spider (Jack Champion) is definitely the son of the villain. The big bad himself (Stephen Lang) is trapped in a clone body after his prior demise. These aren't exactly spoilers since its all dealt with efficiently in the first act. Which can't be said of things that unfold later on when the pacing goes into the abyss. With so many ingredients it all starts to feel very unwieldy. Perhaps the director was feeling insecure about the potential of further sequels and decided to cram as many hooks as possible in here.
The reborn Colonel and his men are out to kill Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) in an effort to end attacks on their colonies and mines. Why do they think Sully is alive considering how it all went down? It's never clear. They obviously haven't thought it through, like they haven't thought about creating a martyr. They also still haven't thought of using unmanned vehicles or hunting techniques. Instead a single squad of Avatar 'recombinants' wanders the jungle for long stretches, without even pretending to be natives. They mention it but never do it. They also mention tracking Spider's equipment but never do that either. In fact there are many chunks of the story missing, where an idea is briefly mentioned and immediately dropped. Because apparently in a film this long there's not enough time.
Instead, a lot of the monolithic running time is dedicated to Jake Sully's new family escaping the jungle and becoming islanders. They swim with whales instead of fighting the RDA, who are only raided in act one. The humans themselves are apparently now trying to colonise an aggressively hostile, poison atmosphered planet. While they're not digging for minerals (which are also never mentioned this time) or whaling alien animals for their life giving brain fluids (which might be the most laughable development). Between the spiritual dialogue and the military talk about resources, it's often blunt and hilarious. There are lapses in logic and analogues to contemporary Earth that would make J.J. Abrams and Neil Blomkamp blush respectively.
The Sully family and their new life is filled with clichés, from the outsiders being rejected by tribal elders to the kids who look different being bullied. It's a cornball affair in which one son is lured to be killed by a shark and nobody gets punished. In which the same son finds out new facts about the whales and Clan leader Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) treats him with disdain. As does everyone else. Is there any moment of realisation where he comes around? Not really. Like with the first movie the Na'vi don't seem to have much characterisation. Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) only exists here to put arrows through enemy skulls and cry with agony every hour or so. Jake himself feels static beyond the family dynamics, which is odd when Sam Worthington has moved on as an actor.
So why do I have a tough time hating all this? Maybe it's because the ideas that land, such as Kiri's existential ordeal, bring things to the table that were lacking before. Perhaps it's thanks once again to Sigourney Weaver's presence. There's an odd disconnect between the age of the performer and the character, but it's an otherworldly idea that should have been explored further. If only the other children added anything interesting. Of course it helps that Stephen Lang is back, as he hinted at many years ago when talking about Quaritch's DNA and the sci-fi trappings of the story. His younger self has room to feel and experience new things as it all progresses. These two, once again, have the kind of screen presence needed to elevate the material. Even under all that computer generated tissue.
The results are messy, and flimsy, considering how long the script had to be developed. But once again it results in the kind of big budget spectacle nobody else seems able to realise nowadays. It's a Saturday morning cartoon series level adventure, but it's not just more grey slurry from a production line. Who else is going to craft this kind of bonkers clones versus aliens versus robots action? The dialogue is often questionable, but it's not just a series of bad jokes and references to properties the producers happen to own. Yes it's corny but it has an old-school charm. Yes it could be half an hour shorter, and yes it still lacks depth and complexity. But in terms of simple family drama and exciting pyrotechnics it will be no surprise to see this scoring big at the box office. For me it's an all too familiar mixture of hits and misses, but there are things to enjoy here overall even if it's just as a big screen roller-coaster ride.
3/5
